Power distribution involves the transfer of energy from a powers source to one or more electric load points. In the context of an electronic device or system, for instance, a power distribution network (PDN) may include, but is not limited to, an alternating current (AC) and/or direct current (DC) power supply to produce electric energy, supply rails to distribute the power from the power supply to one or more electrical components (the load point(s)) within the device/system, bypass capacitors to dampen or eliminate transient noise, hold-up converters to provide clean power in the event of temporary power spikes or drop-offs, and/or control circuitry to help maintain power integrity within the system. PDNs that are sub-optimally or improperly designed may have a significant impact on system operation and performance. In the worst case scenario, components of an electronic device may be damaged and cease to operate properly due to a faulty PDN design. In less severe scenarios, an improper or suboptimal design may result in excess transient noise, current imbalance, transfer function errors, and/or undesired impedance levels.
In order to validate and improve PDN designs, power engineers typically perform a set of tests on a prototype device in which the PDN is integrated. For example, a power engineer may run a first set of tests to detect transient noises, a second set of tests to determine impedance levels within the device, and a third set of tests to validate the power block transfer functions. Generally, each separate test involves different instrumentation, test setup, connections/probing and test methodology. For instance, the power engineer may connect an oscilloscope and transient source to a device under test (DUT) to analyze the transient response to a step-current load. Once complete, the power engineer may then move on to test the output impedance of the DUT by removing the probes and disconnecting the test equipment, connecting a dedicated impedance analyzer or vector network analyzer to the DUT, calibrating the impedance analyzer or vector network analyzer, and running a set of impedance tests on the DUT using the test equipment. A similar process may be performed for other tests, with the power engineer changing connections and test methodologies for each separate task.
While relying on different instrumentation allows for dedicated test equipment to be leveraged, the process of switching from one device to another may be cumbersome and prone to error. For each separate test, the power engineer is required to ensure that the test equipment has been set up and connected correctly, and that the testing methodology has been properly defined. Some test equipment, such as frequency response analyzers and vector network analyzers, require detailed calibration and skilled operators to function correctly. Power engineers that are unfamiliar with such test equipment risk incorrectly performing a validation test on the PDN or even overlooking the validation test itself.
In other cases, the set of test equipment available to a power engineer may not be able to perform all of the validation tasks required to thoroughly analyze and validate the PDN design. For instance, frequency-domain based data acquisition tools, such as frequency response analyzers and vector network analyzers, are typically limited to testing linear circuits or linearized testing of nonlinear circuits. Further these frequency-domain based tools typically have a relatively high low end cutoff frequency, which restricts their ability to be used for analyzing baseband and other low-frequency signals.
By comparison, time-domain based data acquisition tools generally require less calibration to operate than frequency-domain based tools and can measure non-linear responses. However, these tools often have limitations of their own. For example, traditional oscilloscopes have a much more limited range in accuracy and dynamic range than frequency response analyzers. In addition, many oscilloscopes are limited to four or fewer analog channels, which restricts the types of testing these devices are able to perform. Some power engineers attempt to address the deficiencies of traditional oscilloscopes by using a custom hardware chip as an interface between each channel of the oscilloscope and the DUT. However, not all power engineers have the time, expertise, or resources to develop such custom hardware. Due to such limitations and complexities in the test equipment and methodologies, power engineers face many potential pitfalls when attempting to validate a PDN design. If a validation task is overlooked or improperly performed, the analysis of the electrical performance of a DUT may be faulty or incomplete. As a results, suboptimal or faulty PDN designs may be inadvertently integrated and shipped in an end product.
The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section.